I can echo recent sentiments expressed on IBLE by Tom, Jay, and others, maybe add a few of my own…….
I wasn’t expecting this little shift in weather I woke up to this morning, and it was awesome to get back to some of my routine… WinCo for groceries at 0515 hrs, followed by my first visit to the gym in months, if only briefly, it was great to be back, moving, again…
BIRDS were popping EARLY this morning, all across the spectrum (of taxonomic orders and families and such), this hormonal thing is intense, and with a little clear sky, orchestrations were in crescendo, like everywhere. Here in the wild wild west we are blessed with dramatic elevation changes and their associated habitats… when birds go quiet while nesting here in the valley, we can go up a few thousand feet and get a whole ‘nuther
intense dose of song! =) I “matured with birding” at elevations ranging from 2K to 13K+, and I can tell you that tundra is an exciting place to bird in mid-summer !!
I always figure that birders with an interest, or those who care, already know our usual “alpha codes” but if not, again, the ones I rely on are these… https://www.birdpop.org/docs/misc/Alpha_codes_eng.pdf
For me, easiest to remember birds by are their vocals, next are these codes, and last are their many specific field marks per se, maybe a geezer thing?
Yes, WETA are recently everywhere, but in our little patch of the Boise Greenbelt, others have ramped up in numbers and in “tra-la-la” as well, e.g., WAVI, HOWR, WWPE, BHCO everywhere YEWA are of course,
can’t even name them all
So many chattering / sputtering SPSA, BUOR, BHGR
Chats in strange places
A nervy YEWA caught me by surprise with a convincing WIFL call
Layers and layers of swallows on the wing above so many ponds, and lining overhead utility wires
Constant motion of herons and cormorants to / from local rookeries
Our local screaming SWHA(s)
Neither of the adult BAEAs were at their nest for the first time this season
Occasional flybys of EVGR, and a small noisy group of RECR caught me off guard
A couple of CAFI still using our feeders
Hummingbird wing-song of flight displays
A silly LOL moment watching a smallish doe foraging with 7 WITU
And finally =) my FOY WIFL at 0725 hrs this morning, whereas (absent one outlier) my recent FOY dates have ranged 22-29 May.
Meanwhile, the yard needs mowing, weeds need pulling, and my ornithophilous (pollinated by humbirds in particular) seedlings of salvia and stache need TLC…..
This is your lucky day, because the above words are a condensed version of what I really wanted to post 😉
Good boid’n !!
Larry